Pineapple

It's been ahwile since I really contributed anything, and although I have been away from NH for a bit (save for a check every now and then), we've still been playing with our blasters, my kids and their friends, and their parents, and the visitors we have every now and then... now on to the story.


We upgraded our irrigation system some time ago, going from a above-ground pipe and valve system with water towers (simply giant sprinklers set up on our field), to an underground, sprinkler-heads and pipes system. In the process of making these improvements, I had three large ball valves (not that large, 1" ers to be exact) that I cut out from the old system when I discarded it, choosing to save the valves for "projects", should the time ever allow it.

Well, just a couple of weeks ago, my now 12-year old son, who has become a COD4; Modern Warfare fan, asks me, "Hey Dad, can we make a Nerf RPG?"

My answer; "Son, you have a Titan, and a Buzz Bee Blast Bazooka.... there's your RPG."

He said, "C'mon, Dad, those don't look like an RPG!"

So I decided to finally put those valves to good use. Nothing complicated, really.



Simply an inline ball-valve homemade, with a pathetic attempt to make it look and feel like an RPG-7.

The front handle actually has a 1/2" SCH40 PVC barrel running through it, so there's no air loss at the hand grip. The threaded sleeve ball valves mean easy maintenance, and running the collars a BIT loose makes the valve snap open easily, plus the larger red lever allows enough leverage to not make it a chore to open. The Franklin ball pump is epoxied into 1 1/4" SCH20 PVC (thinwall), and that is PVC glued to the coupling and the air storage. Ammo is stomp rockets, Max Shot bombs, and occasionally, darts. The rockets go about 60 feet flat shot on three pumps (t could go more, but I don't want to push it with my son as far as something failing on the design and blowing up while he plays with it).

Finally found a good use for that flip-up Recon sight too. To say he's happy is an understatement. He even puts baby powder in the tail of the rocket so it makes a "smoke" trail. Lotsa laughs.


Not wanting my kiddo to have all the fun, I decided to make something for me, too. Kind of a cross between a Ithaca MAG-10 (one of my favorite longarms), and an M79 grenade launcher. Something to just fool around with, not to shoot anyone unless they were deciding to use some goofy cardboard armor/ tank/ fort.

Here's "Harvey Wallbanger".



Yeah, it's short, stubby, and ugly. Just how I like it.

Filled with a foot pump, I" barrel, haven't decided exactly what to shoot out of it. I made some projectiles out of 1/2" SCH40 PVC and electrical tape. Those are a bit scary. I'm trying to experiment with a 1 1/4" SCH20 (thinwall) PVC barrel, and a load of SIX 3/4" FBR darts (each dart larger than a suction cup mega) similar to the ammunition from my old SM5000 Roadblocker project a long time ago.



Paint job is next. It'll be kind of "business" looking, not a toy, but not something that will get my neighbors worried.

Sure wish I had a video camera for the trial runs. They look promising. 25 feet + 20 psi = holes in cardboard boxes (as in RIGHT THROUGH them).

What fun for a couple bucks of PVC pipes and old valves. I have one more valve, and now my son wants a howitzer. I'll probably give him my 2" solenoid valve spud cannon after building a frame for it.


-Piney-

As I suspend and inspect accounts, I've noticed a growing trend.


Some NerfHaven users have more than one account registered. It appears that they make two or more accounts, either because they were too impatient waiting for the precision validation techniques required at NH, so they end up making one new account a week; or it's because they decide to make a "spare" in case they screw up / mess with us, we ban/ suspend them, and lo and behold, they re-appear as a "reincarnated" member, hopefully behaving better, follow our Code of Conduct, etc.


No more.

Multiple accounts are a direct violation of NerfHaven's Code of Conduct.


If you have a duplicate account that you know of, please delete it immediately. If I myself find that, by random inspection/ account management, I find duplicates, I will not hesitate to delete all accounts found. Your IP address is not the only clue trail you leave behind, in case anyone is wondering. And we've heard enough "little brother" stores, so save it for someone who cares.


Have a nice day,


-Piney-

"Power Trip", an article from the "ProjectNerf" series @ NerfHaven 2005
(edited for current times)


It's always been the desire of the hard core Nerf fanatic to extract the maximum amount of power from their plastic toy weapons, increasing range beyond the 10-20 feet that most Nerf blasters produce out of the box.

But where does it stop?

Many organized wars place limitations on power, and usually the SM5000s, Titans, SuperSoakers modified to shoot Nerf darts, and overpowered PVC and brass homemades are relegated to the 'penalty pile', bringing up the question, "Why even bother if it won't be allowed in a war?"

To try to justify the exponentially increased power and subsequent domination over the other weapons produced with pseudo-macho talk like "live with it", or "what's a welt or two?", is the very kind of behavior and attitude that makes wary parents back off from a hobby that has the potential to be more socially acceptable than paintball or airsoft.

How about allowing me to use a 1 1/2" diameter, 3 foot long PVC bat covered in foam as a hand-to-hand combat device--though with my strength level I could probably inflict some damage, "but hey, what's a few minor bruises and hairline fractures?" The absurdity of allowing ridiculously overpowered blasters in an organized war is quite obvious.


Now my rant would be pointless and useless if I didn't offer an option or a solution to the dilemma of overpowered Nerf blasters in wars. In fact, I have two suggestions...


How about a standardized class of blaster, one (obviously) commonly available, modifyable with readily available materials, and with no alteration to the spring propusion or air delivery system, relying on barrel dynamics to give performance increases. This would minimize any overt performance advantage of one blaster over another, which is always debatable (i.e., ranges of AT2ks/ 3ks, X-bows, BBBs, Max Shots, LBBs, and 1500s are pretty similar to within 20-30 feet).

The blaster I would standardize is the old trusty AT 2000. Still easily available and very affordable, and with little more than a barrel replacement (no pump modification) can consistently shoot 50-60 feet. Single barreled 2ks are easy as pie to modify, and turret modified 2ks allow four-shot firepower, allowing combatants to depend on ROF and movement instead of sheer power to win.

2007 Edit; I really like how the Big Blast, in the modification style of CaptainSlug, seems to have similar potential, and the blasters could be pre-modded, minus the pump plugging, to ensure fairness all around.


Another ideal standardized blaster would be the NiteFinder. Spring powered, affordable, and easy to modify with a barrel replacement, and yielding honest 40-50 foot ranges without any spring modifications or banding. Almost everyone does 'pistol-only' rounds at wars anyway, so this point may be moot to begin with, but if you're not doing pistolas, maybe it's the time to start! And I don't mean someone bringing out their Secret Shot 2 with 12" of brass and saying, "here's my pistol!"



The other alternative would borrow from the paintball world, where they chronograph markers for velocity limitations. A standardized range mark could be established and blasters fired; any blaster shooting 10 feet beyond the range marker would have to be de-powered (if banded, bands could be removed; or air powered blasters could have barrel length limitations), or taken off the active field. This would encourage the mainstream modifiers to keep their modified blasters within the measured threshold (say, 90 feet), and the reduction in power would, in this Nerfer's opinion, promote longer life for the blasters from stress-induced breakage and leakage. Not to mention the ability to use their 'beloved' Titan or SM5000! Everybody wins!


As conditions allow for clans and Nerfers to begin to attend and participate in wars with each other, as well as have and organize wars on their own 'home front', the standardizing and regulating of Nerf blasters will allow the most level playing field, preventing boring standoffs, unfair domination by the one with the 'biggest gun', and unnecessary disputes; and overall making skill, not power, as the factor in winning rounds in a well organized war.



-Piney-, 2005 NerfHaven

Viva La Difference!

Or, why Nerf should be Nerf, paintball should be paintball, and airsoft be airsoft.

By Pineapple; written January 2007


Last week, prompted by a friend's announcing that his son-in-law was going to do some improvised paintball games at a local property, I picked up my Phantom VSC .45 stock-class paintball marker for the first time in a LONG time. I went to the local Fish-n-Dive shop (basically a tiny sporting goods store and tourist trap), and bought a case (1000) of Diablo Dusks. It was all they carried, beggars cannot be choosers.

I brought the marker out onto our meadow, twisted in a 12 gram CO2 cartridge, dropped 12 balls into the SC tube feeder, and pumped back...and fired at my target tree, 80 feet away.

Smack.

Smack.

Smack.

12 times. 12 solid hits, in a grouping about the size of a cantaloupe. It felt great.


Then I realized it. It's all different.


Why am I writing about my paintball re-vitalization on a Nerf website? Because sometimes even I get Nerfing confused with paintball, just as some of the other younger or newer users get Nerf confused with airsoft, mil-sim, lazer tag, water wars, or any of the other shooting activities that compete for our attention.


When I instituted White Dog Hobbies Armory, I had visions of polar bears dancing in my head. I thought I'd try my hand at being the Doc Nickel of Nerfdom. Sure, with plastic parts, and with Nerf being so simplistic compared to paintball, why not? I could accomplish many of the decorative machine work with hand tools and a bench lathe. Plastic is cheap, I have more PVC pipes than I know what to do with, a decent stash of Nerf blasters, and the experience both on the field and the forum boards to have a cool thing going.


But I realized something. If my friend didn't tell me about Nerf related web-sites six years ago, if I didn't visit and register at NerfOnline and NerfHQ back five years ago, I wouldn't have known about modifying Nerf blasters. Probably wouldn't have cared. Possibly even would have become a troll like the occasional PBNation squid that makes his way over to the forum boards to harass Nerfers about their hobby, to make them feel more masculine.


And while practicing my snap-shooting from cover again, planting shot after shot into my targets from 15, 25, 40, 50 feet away, I realized that even my stock-class markers, with their limited, pump-action firepower, could outshoot my best Nerf blaster, RoadBlocker, my customized SuperMaxx 5000, on it's best day.


I don't completely understand why the serious Nerf hobbyist would desire to attempt to assume their blasters can be a substitute for an airsoft gun replica, or a paintball marker. Oh sure, I myself have used the adage of "if it makes you happy, go for it, at least you're Nerfing". But when the notion of making Mil-sim Nerf a mainstream topic of discussion on the forum boards is met with reistance and ridicule, the user (generally a fairly new user to Nerf with less than a year of experience, or lack of knowledge of major Nerf war procedure) tends to get perturbed and outright angry. They fight back and cuss on the forum board as though they are the modern-day prophet of the New Era of Nerfing, military simulations with colorful, dart shooting toy guns. And painting a Nerf blaster black, will make it "badass".



In this ditty, I'm basically parroting the words of several different experienced Nerfers, but my personal observations about why Nerf is unique and enjoyable, in and of itself, are brief, practical, and just make common sense. And mind you, for those who don't know, I'm a 42 year old happily married father of two, gainfully employed, who just so happens to find some happiness in building, modifying, and allowing myself and my kids to run amok with plastic toy guns.


1) COST: This above everything else is my chief rationale for endorsing Nerf blaster play. I plunked down 30 bucks for my case of 1000 Diablos. Paintballs. Disposable, one-shot dealios. That same three sawbucks could buy:

1 Longshot, OR

3 Lanard Double Shots, OR

4 Reactor Ball Blasters, OR

4 Mavericks, OR

5 NiteFinders, OR

3 Bags of TaggerDart refills, with enough change to buy a Nite Finder.


The fact that I can be well-armed for the price of what most paintballers burn in a half-day is a major indicator that Nerfing is a hobby that EVERYONE can enjoy, not just the trust-fund babies with cash flowing out their wazoos, or people who will max out three credit cards to get the most "leet" equipment and gear and jerseys so they can emulate the pro ballers, or buy a replica, pellet-shooting rifle that sometimes can cost more than it's real-steel counterpart.

For the price of a Mickey-D's lunch, you can have your very own pistol and some spare ammo. Now THAT's cash well spent.



2) LOW VELOCITIES: Yep, you heard me right. Low velocities. Now that may not fare well with some Nerfers who will argue that their blaster shoots "400 feet", and while that may or may not be the case, the fact is that most NORMALLY MODIFIED blasters would barely reach the 140 foot mark on a good day. That is less range capability than 75% of the weaker airsoft guns, and lower than most paintball markers shoot.

Lower velocities means one fun factor; DODGING shots. You can imagine you're doing the John Woo special and shuck and jive away foam, shot after shot. Dodging means you can walk "up the middle" with your weaponry, straight at the opponent's fort, knowing that you DO have a chance to juke a quick left or right and get right in their faces, opening fire with your own low-velocity weaponry.

Low velocities mean new and innovative strategies not necessarily do-able by the paintballer or airsofter. I mean, in paintball, if you see the ball coming, you're basically dead meat. Worse if you see a string of yellow Anarchy tourney-balls the split-second before they hit your torso at 14 bps...it's not fun to get hit (well, actually it is). With Nerf, you've got to get in close and get the angle on your opponents in such a way that they literally walk into your lines of fire, one shot at a time. Even the full-auto rigs in Nerf, the RF-20, Wildfire, Powerclip, and Magstrike, have rates of fire between 6-8 darts per second, expending their full load in 2-3 seconds.



3) TINKERING AND INNOVATION: Now I'm not saying that you cannot tinker and innovate with paintball or airsoft. Look at the creations by Doc Nickel (Doc's Machine), or DB Custom airsoft. You can modify and improve, but again, it's going to cost you a pretty penny to make your gun "like the ones on the website". Have another credit card to max out?

Nerf is different, in the sense that you can take household items, crap from your dad's (or mom's) toolbox or workbench, and with some hot glue, Plumber's goop, and epoxy, create your own beast. Make it cosmetically appealing, or tweak and add power to it, but you can often modify a complete blaster for less than the cost of a set of screws for an AutoCocker or Marui P-90.



4) SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE: This will get me some feedback, I'm sure. But one of the best things about Nerf blasters is that they DON'T look very much like any current firearms out there today. Add to it the motley colors and logos, and you have a "toy gun" that wouldn't get much of a second glance at a park or playground. Try that with a Marui M4 with M203 launcher, or even a Spyder or Ion paintball "gun".

When I show people my paintball markers, they look and treat them like my pneumatic pellet gun collections...as though they were real firearms. They gingerly pick them up, sight them down, and put them just as carefully back down.

Put a Nerf blaster in front of the same people, and I tell you, nine out of ten times, no matter what age, the first thing out of their mouth is the word "cool!" They pick it up without hesitation, point it at each other, themselves, and wonder how they work. Load up a modified NiteFinder and shoot someone, and INSTANTLY they become a fan. I've had a room full of college kids, high and middle schoolers, and adults go totally bonkers as darts and balls flew about, everyone obeying the "3:15" rule and upholding the honor system. In a world where "wiping" and hit disputes abound, it's nice to see total chaos, while being attentive to hit rules, or just winging it and going with a no-rules firefight, complete with close-range welts.

This is the reason why I'm so against kids striving to make their Nerf blasters look like "real" firearms, with black paint, and attaching gadgets and add ons from the airsoft manufacturers, or from real firearms. Granted, in a woodsball or airsoft combat situation on a controlled field, that would be acceptable. But in a park with families, or on a school campus, the sight of a realistic toy gun just generates too much negative stigma to be truly "family oriented".



So as I practice my snap-shooting from cover, and prepare to take on some "green" players equipped with Spyder and Tippmann equipment, I become one with my Phantom once again, practice with my "Carterized" Tunnel Rat back-up pump gun, and thank God that each shooting hobby employs unique qualities and quirks that force the seasoned player to try all three...and take their pick of preference.



Viva la difference.



-Piney-

In the last couple of weeks, we've let in approximately 2,200 new and pending validations to membership.


That's a lot.


We also have noticed an abundance, a growth if you will, of forum threads and discussions with the following types of characteristics.


-- More "what is your favorite_____________" threads.


-- More "Concept and Idea" threads, of which many, by the poster's own admission, will never come to pass (or what I call the " I'd try this but I don't have money or time to do it" wet dreams). All talk, no substance.


-- Lots and lots of repetitive questions asked, and when the poster is asked if the "Search" function is used, they respond in affirmative, when in actuality a quick search reveals all the information the poster had requested, often within seconds.


-- Generally a lot of posts that violate the NerfHaven Code of Conduct, mainly the one about "Do not post unless you have something significant to add. Or what I call the "That's cool!" and nothing more posts.


-- New users claiming to be "long time lurkers", who haven't a clue how things are run here, and end up being post-whoring thread mongers.


-- Every third or fourth member wants a custom avatar, or something added to the library, or pictures or ASCII rabbits in their signatures.


-- (My personal pet peeve along with lying on the forums); Backseat moderators who decide that a couple dozen posts on NH qualifies them to become the forum bully or three.



Enough is enough.


Consider this announcement fair warning. The administrative staff has been both absent, and tolerant for the newer flood of users, and the so-called new "veterans" whose member number is below 4000.


We will not warn you. You will be suspended with little indication. The boards will become readable again without turning stomachs watching the playground arguments form online.


Don't like it? Don't worry. I've taken some trouble to find some fine alternative Nerf forums that would be happy to cater to your needs. Many of the littler members of NH are administrators and kingpins of these lessor sites:

Try this one.

Or this one!

Perhaps this one.

This is sweet.

Go here now!

Another fine site.

I left one or two off, because those sites are sufficient in membership (and because I frequent them too). Everyone knows about Nerf HQ, so y'all can go there first without my leading you.


All good?

Okay, because the administrative staff has their permits, and are locked and loaded.


It's hunting season.



-Piney-

ps; If anyone posts that any of the links don't work, too bad. I'll suspend you myself.